Bruce Lee
12-31-2007, 06:00 PM
A long time ago, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, John Byrne was the regular penciller on the FANTASTIC FOUR. While reading one of his FF comics, I made an observation about the way he drew the Human Torch's fist in one panel. I noticed that the bulk of the shape of Human Torch's fist was that of a mitten. Not being particularly adept at drawing hands at that time, I put pencil to paper and began to draw out what I'd observed in that comic book panel. Avoiding glancing at the comic, I managed to draw the fist in profile to satisfaction for the first time! It looked pretty good too. It was sort of an epiphany. Sure--it was a small thing, but I'd learned a new drawing trick. I'm now passing this tidbit on to those who might benefit from it. This is a very simple tutorial, drawn with a mouse. Please forgive the crude, shaky lines:
http://www.lostonwallace.com/fistmitten.jpg
A description of the construction:
Drawing #1: The first thing to do is to lightly draw the mitten shape of the fist in profile. The thumb of the mitten is more rectangular in shape, while the upper knuckle portion is more triangular. The rectangular thumb part should jut away from the wrist at 45 degrees (see drawing #1 above).
Drawing #2: The next step adds on the finger section of the fist. Again, we draw lightly, as we're just laying down some light pencil guidelines that will come in handy later on. This area is a squared-off, forming a 90 degree corner, which simulates the bend of the middle finger knuckle (see drawing #2 above). At this point it begins to look more like a fist.
Drawing #3: The next step is to indicate the inside folds of the finger digits. This is done by adding in an upside-down "Y" shape between the mitten and the squared knuckle. Remember to do this lightly! (See drawing #3 above).
Drawing #4: In this stage of the drawing, we begin to refine the drawing, and it's okay to begin to use darker linework here. The human hand is not perfectly flat or rounded, so a few curving lines will be necessary to get your drawing towards a finished fist. This is also the point that we add in the ball-shape muscles on the palm-side of the thumb (see drawing#4 above).
Drawing #5: Well, with a little erasing and the addition of a few skin wrinkles and some extra detail, you're done (see drawing #5 above).
Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com/fistmitten.jpg
A description of the construction:
Drawing #1: The first thing to do is to lightly draw the mitten shape of the fist in profile. The thumb of the mitten is more rectangular in shape, while the upper knuckle portion is more triangular. The rectangular thumb part should jut away from the wrist at 45 degrees (see drawing #1 above).
Drawing #2: The next step adds on the finger section of the fist. Again, we draw lightly, as we're just laying down some light pencil guidelines that will come in handy later on. This area is a squared-off, forming a 90 degree corner, which simulates the bend of the middle finger knuckle (see drawing #2 above). At this point it begins to look more like a fist.
Drawing #3: The next step is to indicate the inside folds of the finger digits. This is done by adding in an upside-down "Y" shape between the mitten and the squared knuckle. Remember to do this lightly! (See drawing #3 above).
Drawing #4: In this stage of the drawing, we begin to refine the drawing, and it's okay to begin to use darker linework here. The human hand is not perfectly flat or rounded, so a few curving lines will be necessary to get your drawing towards a finished fist. This is also the point that we add in the ball-shape muscles on the palm-side of the thumb (see drawing#4 above).
Drawing #5: Well, with a little erasing and the addition of a few skin wrinkles and some extra detail, you're done (see drawing #5 above).
Loston